Salud Mental 2011;34:341-350

Schizophrenia-spectrum disorders have a chronic and episodic course that results in impairment of all life domains. Pharmacological and psychosocial treatments provide symptom relief, but there is not a cure for schizophrenia and many patients suffer chronic impairment. In addition, it is expensive both in economical terms and also in terms of personal costs for both patients and their families. International interest has grown over the past 15 years in the prognostic potential of early identification and intervention in the prodromal and first-episode phases of psychotic illness. This focus is associated with increasing optimism about the benefits of implementing treatment as early as possible in the course of psychosis at least to help improve the course of illness, reducing its long-term impact. The most recent epidemiological studies have shown that patients with longer duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) have worse short-term outcomes in terms of treatment response, positiv